Dracut on task with town manager search

DRACUT -- Selectmen spent much of Tuesday night's meeting marking their 2013 calendar with several key projects, meetings and events, including the recruitment process for a new town manager.

In response to Town Manager Dennis Piendak's previously announced plans to retire in November, selectmen unanimously approved a timetable presented to them by public-executive recruitment consultants Richard Kobayashi and Michael Ward, to begin soliciting resumes from job candidates this summer, and to appoint a screening committee charged with narrowing the field of applicants down to a dozen after Labor Day.

Once the field is reduced, background checks will be conducted, and the Screening Committee will be asked to choose three to five finalists to be recommended to selectmen by Oct. 25, Kobayashi said.

In other action, the board voted unanimously to reschedule the town's municipal election date from May 6 to April 30 to coincide with the special state primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry, who is now secretary of state.

"Let's go with the low number we heard for the cost of holding an election of $15,000," said Selectman George Malliaros. "Saving that money is important to the community."

Selectmen also voted unanimously to take permanent easements along a 7,500-foot stretch of Arlington Street, clearing the way for a state-funded $7.7 million project to widen and install new sidewalks and drainage system, gutters, on the stretch of road lined with about 150 homes and businesses.

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The weekdays-only, daytime construction project is expected to begin sometime this summer and take about two years to complete, according to the project's lead designer, Ron Desrosiers.

Charlie Daigle, owner of Elm Turkey Farm, a popular 32-year-old turkey farm at 298 Arlington St., was the only one of the impacted business owners to speak about the construction project last night. Daigle's farm is on a curve in the road where motor-vehicle accidents have commonly occurred. Daigle lamented that a dozen maple trees he planted along the road for "safety and aesthetic" reasons will be uprooted by the state construction project.

"I don't like to give up part of my property, but I'm willing to give up property for enhancements of the sidewalk," Daigle said.

Before the meeting closed, selectmen rescheduled their planned discussion of alternate uses of the Parker Avenue School for Monday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Harmony Hall to be conducted in a joint session with the School Committee. At that meeting, Selectman John Zimini said he intended to revive the subject of possibly placing the Dracut School District's office building at 2063 Lakeview Ave. up for sale on the market.

"Any town property that is currently on the books that can help us financially should be talked about," Zimini said. "And this (School Administration building) is something I've been talking to the School Committee about making into something -- other than a money pit -- for years."

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